Jennifer A. Smokelin

Jennifer advises clients on the legal, regulatory, and business dimensions of current and emerging energy issues, organizational risk management, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. Her practice encompasses carbon footprint assessments, net zero planning, CSR and climate-related corporate reporting, ESG compliance and benchmarking, carbon offsetting and neutrality programs, green energy initiatives, and renewables and alternative fuels regulation. A prolific author and sought-after speaker, Jennifer has shared the stage with the White House special assistant to the president for energy and climate change and is regularly quoted in leading industry and legal publications including Law360, Bloomberg BNA, and Reuters.

Jennifer is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, her alma mater, where she teaches Climate Change and the Law — a course designed to prepare the next generation of lawyers to navigate the science, law, and business of climate change.

ESG Advisory

Jennifer counsels clients on ESG strategy, assessment, and implementation, including responsible supply chain management, procurement contract review, and alignment with frameworks such as the GHG Protocol. She advises on waste and water reduction goal-setting, ESG benchmarking against peer organizations, and the development of corporate sustainability programs that meet evolving market and regulatory expectations.

Energy, Climate and Greenhouse Gas

Jennifer has argued before administrative tribunals on emerging Clean Air Act issues involving greenhouse gases, developed standardized carbon trading agreements in California and across the United States, and conducted due diligence on major carbon credit (avoidance and removal) projects, both representing the project developer and/or major corporate offtakers.  A delegate to the Paris Climate Talks (COP 21) and the Copenhagen climate negotiations (COP 15), she has led or participated on teams in some of the most significant air appeals and hearings on air aggregation issues for the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania.

Environmental Litigation

Jennifer represents clients in environmental civil enforcement and litigation matters under the Clean Air Act, CERCLA (Superfund), RCRA, and the Clean Water Act, as well as state law equivalents. Her experience includes groundbreaking air permitting aggregation litigation, successful Title V permitting challenges, and defense of toxic tort and property damage claims arising from the discharge of hazardous pollutants into air, soil, and groundwater. She has managed complex expert teams in hydrology, fate and transport, and toxicology in connection with third-party property damage litigation for major multinational companies.

Environmental Due Diligence and Transactions

Jennifer is a key member of teams handling due diligence on major domestic and international acquisitions involving real estate and environmental risk. From single-property transactions to multi-parcel, multi-jurisdictional deals, she evaluates environmental assessments across diverse global locations and advises clients on deal structuring to mitigate environmental exposure. She counsels real estate purchasers, including REITs, on qualifying as bona fide purchasers under CERCLA, asserting innocent landowner and contiguous property owner defenses, and obtaining liability protection under various state voluntary cleanup programs.